Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I went to Kerala in October for a few days. The billboards confused
me, so many of them. Gold and Money Deposit seem to be the only
interests the Malayalis have these days, seemingly. No wonder Mr Tharoor
thought IPL would do well for the Gulf diaspora as entertainment. The
advertising bill boards are so huge that the dwarf coconuts are quite
hidden. One just cannot see Kerala anymore, the Kerala one knew. We are
often told to Adapt or Die. I am not sure that's an ideological option.
Because of commercialisation, the Malayalis were quick to see that their
future lay in professional careers and that is an option that many of
our families chose in the early 20th century. Why we expect slavery and
rice agriculture to continue is anybody's guess, except that a new
generation of Agricultural officers in Kerala are interested in red rice
and biodiversity. Agriculture and love for nature are still ingrained
in many of us, and the job of the farmer is one of the hardest that we
can imagine.

When I first shifted to my new house in
JNU after ten years in a very tiny cozy flat on the highest point of the
Ridge called Poorvanchal, I was delighted by the garden the previous
tenant had left behind, following a twenty year stay. Mrs Rao, wife of
Prof D.N. Rao the economist, had planted hibiscus, (for her pujas
perhaps) and drumsticks, tamarind, curry leaves, lemons, plantains,
mangoes, neem....That garden delights me even now, and when some plant
dies from old age or termites, I quickly replace them. Mrs Rao visits
the house once every year, out of nostalgia though she lives in Canada
now, and it's always lovely to see her because she has lots to say about
gardening. And ofcourse about the Snake which would visit the house on
23rd September every year. "He just slides in and looks around, he never
harms anyone." I looked basilisk at her and said "Yes, I noticed the
large snake holes in the garden, so I blocked them with large rocks, and
planted garlic all around the house, singly in pods..I heard him say " I
live here" and I replied to him "Ofcourse you do, but now we do too,
so don't disturb us." Sometimes I hear the kindly snake at night, and
the squeal of the dying mouse he has caught. If I did not hear voices
would I be a novelist?

Gardening and farming are
completely different exercises. The fact that Logan's Malabar extolls
the Malayali's passion for gardening is a historical phenomenon. Where
ever they find even a small pot, they will immediately set about to
plant something, whether it is a grain of mustard seed, or coriander or
mango or curry leaf. They do this in New York and in Dubai, and very
likely in Brunei. Intensive Agriculture has depended on this imagination
of the Malayalis, which makes co-existence a natural part of life.
And
ofcourse Malayalis like all other peasants in India famously went to
their fields to defaecate. Fukoka wrote about it, Indians practised
it...organic manure was readily produced every morning by agriculturists
and their labourers.